Clay County leaders present staffing allocation with $7.3 million reduction and targeted cuts to district positions

Superintendent Mr. Brosky presented the district’s proposed 2026–27 staffing allocation at the March 24 workshop, describing the plan as a “baseline” that will be adjusted before final budget adoption. He said the package is “$7.3 million less than last year’s package” and framed the plan around four guiding principles: “the guiding principles are are stability, fiscal fiscally conservative, flexibility, and transparency.”

The presentation summarized school-by-school reviews and demographic projections used to set allocations. At the elementary level the proposal shows a reduction of 32 basic teacher positions and a reduction of nine ESE/gifted positions; the superintendent said district-level changes total about $2.3 million while school-level changes total about $5.0 million, producing the $7.3 million overall reduction. He also reported a school-level financial impact line item of $5,025,251 in the materials provided to board members.

Board members pressed for details about ELL and ESE services after one member observed ELL assistant allocations dropping to zero at some schools. A board member asked whether thresholds were being used; staff responded that ESOL assistant allocations are driven by language-specific counts (an ESOL assistant threshold was described as 15 students of the language for ESOL assistants, with other ELD supports handled differently). On ESE/gifted positions, staff said some reductions reflected slower growth in particular schools and expanded inclusion/collaboration that reduced full-time gifted allocations in a small number of schools.

The plan includes organizational changes at the district level: the Department of Climate and Culture would merge into Student Support Services/ESE; a reorganization in IT would introduce a “professional managerial” class intended to improve recruitment and retention, and one supervisor position would be deleted. The superintendent and IT staff said the goal is a leaner, more agile IT team with specialized analyst roles (for example, an FTE analyst and senior network engineer) to ensure continuity and to improve FTE reporting and retention.

Board members repeatedly emphasized the tension between protecting classroom supports and reducing district overhead. One member noted the district’s academic success and urged caution about removing supports that staff said undergird that success. The superintendent reiterated that the allocation package is not final and that the board will see allocation-change items on upcoming agendas, and that the final budget depends on legislative action at the state level.

What happens next: staff will post the allocation/ staffing materials in the 48-hour supplement for the next board meeting and bring the allocations forward as actionable agenda items; the board may request specific charts and school-by-school student counts for review prior to vote.

Quotes in this article are taken verbatim from the workshop transcript and are attributed to the speakers who made them.